Bad weather has battered much of Italy, sinking a cargo ship off the north-west coast after strong winds drove it into a breakwater. The boat's 13 crew are safe, but authorities fear more than 14,000 litres (3,000 gallons) of oil could leak from the ship's tanks. Also in the north, hundreds of cars and lorries were snowed in, while Milan's tram system was knocked out. Meanwhile, heavy rains and a high tide caused widespread flooding in Venice. In La Spezia, the Georgia-registered bulk cement carrier Margaret dragged its anchor in high winds, hit a pier and sank in shallow water just off the commercial port. Several anti-pollution vessels were quickly on the scene and others were to arrive on Sunday, the AFP news agency reported. ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to go on the offensive over EU concerns that the US has operated secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe. According to media reports in both the US and UK, Ms Rice will tell European allies to "back off" over the issue. Last month the EU wrote to Ms Rice expressing misgivings over the alleged jails and reports CIA planes carrying detainees had stopped in EU countries. Ms Rice said she would respond to the EU before a visit to Europe on Monday. The Washington Post newspaper first reported on 2 November that the CIA had been using Soviet-era camps in eastern Europe to detain and interrogate terror suspects. In response to that and further media reports of possible violations of international law Britain formally wrote to the US, on behalf the EU, to ask for "clarification"....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4497006.stm

As Hurricane Katrina roared ashore and began its assault on homes and lives across Louisiana, a political storm was brewing in the Louisiana governor's office and the White House, newly released documents show. Memos, handwritten notes, e-mails and phone logs turned over late Friday to congressional committees investigating failures in the government's disaster response shed more light on what happened behind the scenes in the frantic days surrounding the Aug. 29 storm. Katrina stranded thousands of people in homes, on rooftops and in the Superdome for days, flooded neighborhoods and killed over 1,000 people in Louisiana alone. Gov. Kathleen Blanco and others blamed the federal government for a slow response. The White House said that the governor was slow to ask for troops and that state and local officials were unorganized and indecisive...http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/12/04/katrina/main1095208.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=U.S._1095208

A Sunni Arab insurgent group was plotting to attack the trial of Saddam Hussein when it resumed Monday, Iraq’s national security adviser said Sunday.The statement by national security adviser Mouwaffak al-Rubaie’s office said the 1920 Revolution Brigades planned to fire rockets at the court building during Monday’s session. Iraqi intelligence uncovered the plot, but the statement did not say whether anyone had been arrested.Saddam and seven co-defendants are on trial for the 1982 killing of more than 140 Shiite Muslims in the town of Dujail following an assassination attempt against him there. The defendants face the death penalty if convicted. The trial resumed Nov. 28, with a combative Saddam lashing out at his treatment by American “occupiers and invaders” and lecturing the chief judge about leadership....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10318347/from/RSS/

A crowd hurling shoes, rocks and tomatoes forced former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi to cut short a visit on Sunday to Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrine during a campaign trip to the city of Najaf, police officers said.A spokeswoman for Allawi, a secular Shiite, said she had no information on the incident but confirmed that Allawi, who is challenging the ruling Shiite Islamist Alliance bloc at next week’s parliamentary election, had been in Najaf during the day.A police captain, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a large crowd of worshippers at the Imam Ali mosque hurled sandals and shoes at Allawi -- a grave insult in Iraqi culture.A second police officer said some of Allawi’s bodyguards fired in the air to disperse the crowd and that also threw rocks, sticks, tomatoes and other projectiles. Police also intervened to break up the disturbance, he said....http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10294579/from/RSS/

A clothing store owner agreed Saturday to stop selling "Stop Snitching" T-shirts amid concerns the message was intimidating murder witnesses during a surge in violent crime.Store owner Antonio Ennis, after meeting with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and outraged community leaders, said he would stop selling the shirts in his store and over the Internet."It's the right thing to do," Ennis said.Antonio Ansaldi Clothing has stocked the shirts since 1999 and sold 300 to 400 a month, he said.Boston has had 66 homicides so far this year, matching a 10-year high, and police haven't identified a suspect in 70% of them. Police say many witnesses fear retaliation, and Menino said the "Stop Snitching" shirts are part of the problem.At a meeting Thursday, the mayor said he would send city employees into shops to seize the shirts.Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts asked Menino to abandon that plan....http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-12-04-snitch-tshirt_x.htm?csp=34